June 09, 2012

The Road Begins

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always
the same step, but you have to take it. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I'm on a journey to publication. That one sentence sums up my current life goal. I am working my way through college as we speak, seeking to earn my BA in English. English, you say, but why English? I am asked that question a lot to which their first response is, "You want to teach, right?" Actually, no. Since childhood, my dream has been to write, simply, and someday, to become a published author. It's a lofty goal, but I believe it is one I can reach if I work my hardest to achieve it.

So, why start a blog? That's what I wondered, too. Prompted by my college coach (via CollegePlus), I began to look into the reasons on why a currently unpublished author might want to do such a thing. To my surprise, there were pages upon pages listed in google's search results. Apparently, starting a writing blog before publication can help you gain not only followers, but professionals willing to look into your work. Now that is some exciting stuff.

Besides, writing is the passion of my life, right? Why would I not look into starting a writing blog? So, after a few hours of really delving into things, I'm here, writing this post. Quite an exciting feeling, if you ask me.

My goals for this blog are being worked out and organized in my mind right at the moment, but I do have a vision. There are hundreds and thousands (no exaggerations here, I promise) of people currently in the same boat as I am: sitting at their desks, hunched over their keyboards, their hair frizzled, eyes wide open, and fingers moving at an impossible speed, working their way to their dream of becoming published. Manuscripts are being written as we speak while others are being torn apart and edited.

That's when it hit me. This experience would be so much better with other people to lean on for advice, encouragement and lessons, right? "But, wait," you interject. "There are a billion blogs like this one out there already!" I won't deny that this is probably being added into the chasm of writer's blogs, but who says I can't have one of my own?

With all of that out of the way, my ultimate goal for this blog is to help other aspiring authors, like myself, with handy tips, tricks, and lessons I've learned throughout my writing "career". As we all push towards our goal of becoming published, we can share helpful information, various other blog posts of writing content, encouragement and chat about our novels and their progression together.

So, as a famous man once said, "The Road goes ever on and on. Out from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone. Let others follow, if they can! Let them a journey new begin."